Jerusalem Artichoke Soup – From Fork to Spoon

A Very Simple Artichoke Soup Recipe

Jerusalem Artichokes are a seasonal vegetables that you’ll only find in the colder months of the year.

The artichokes make a delicious soup, although the carbohydrate they contain causes flatulence, no prizes for guessing what we’ve renamed the soup!

Last Spring we bought some from a community produce shop and decided to have a go at growing them having used some of them to make soup.

In late summer they were a mass of tall plants bearing lots of small sunflower like flowers. In theory you’re supposed to remove flower buds to improve the productivity of the tubers for harvesting later but they look so attractive to us and insects so why worry trying for a bigger crop. Cut the stems down to about 6 inches once the plant has died back, it’s useful to know where they are when harvesting. Harvest as needed over winter (the ground’s a perfect place for storage).

Here are some photos showing Fork to Spoon by Mark in just a couple of hours.

Simple Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

250g Chopped Artichokes

1 Onion Diced (100g used here)

1 tbsp Oil

500ml Stock (made with 2tsp Bouillon Powder)

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Method

Sweat the onions until soft in the cooking oil.

Add scrubbed and sliced artichokes and the stock

Cover and simmer for 20-30 mins until Artichokes are soft

Blitz, check seasoning and serve!

Serves 2

Note: The name Jerusalem Artichoke is misleading - it’s not from Jerusalem and it’s not related to the Globe Artichoke. Also known as Girasole or Sunchoke.
Jerusalem is said to have been derived from the Italian Girasole or “Sunflower” and the Artichoke part because it’s similar in taste to Globe Artichokes.